Presently, myriad forms of reusable food and beverage containers exist in the marketplace. As an example, many types of water bottles, or other drink containers, exist. And, many type of food storage containers exist. Some are geared for infants, while others are geared for teens and adults. Some beverage containers are made with insulating properties, e.g., travel coffee mugs and thermoses.
Reusable beverage containers can include screw-type caps. In such cases, the cap has a “female”-threaded rim configured that corresponds to a “male”-threaded opening of a vessel that holds the beverage. The cap is screwed off to provide access to the opening of the vessel and screwed on to close the opening, or vice versa. Some food containers include snap-on caps (or lids, or covers), wherein the cap includes a recess that accommodates a corresponding protruding rim at the opening of the vessel, e.g., as with a sandwich container.
With particular regard to beverage containers, some such caps include a rigid mouthpiece through which a person can receive a beverage within the vessel, such as with children's “sippy cups.” The rigid mouthpiece can be formed as part of the cap and immovable, e.g., as a molded plastic cap. In other designs, a “pop cap” is used, where a mouthpiece has an open position and a closed position, and the mouthpiece can be popped open from the closed position. These can be effective in preventing leakage of the vessel's contents, and for preventing contamination of the container contents from entry of external matter.
Despite these various types of reusable food and beverage containers, it would be beneficial to have a reusable food and beverage container that was configured to allow a user to easily form an airtight and/or water-tight seal between the cap and the vessel that is simple to use and cost effective. Such an container could further reduce the waste and environmental impacts of widely used disposable containers, such as disposable food and beverage containers. That is, in a world where all things single-use, are made of plastic, there is a detrimental environmental impact—particularly given the sales and distribution volume of such single-use food and beverage containers.